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FOOTBALL WRAP: Serie A and Premier League races continue to thrill, Bayern and Real cruising and more!

Damien Kayat looks back at the weekend’s European football as the Premier League and Serie A continue to deliver thrilling title races, Bayern and Real look to have things wrapped up while PSG romped to another big win.

Kevin de Bruyne - Manchester CIty - Premier League
Image Copyright - Steve Haag Sports

Damien Kayat looks back at the weekend's European football as the Premier League and Serie A continue to deliver thrilling title races, Bayern and Real look to have things wrapped up while PSG romped to another big win.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

Premier League title race approaches crescendo

Liverpool and Manchester City never fluffed their respective lines at the weekend, both sealing convincing 2-0 victories that perfectly tees up next Sunday’s clash at the Etihad.

Liverpool were made to work hard against a well organized Watford side. Despite feeding off scraps for much of the afternoon, Watford actually managed to create one or two chances on the counterattack. But Liverpool were ultimately far too strong, suffocating Watford and barely approaching 2nd gear.

City were perhaps slightly more convincing at Burnley, taking a nearly unassailable 2-0 lead inside the first half-hour. This gave Guardiola’s side the freedom to play keep-ball for the final hour of the match.

De Bruyne seems to be peaking at the perfect time of the season while Raheem Sterling was a nuisance throughout. Given Chelsea’s current predicament and Man United’s elongated cryofreeze, it’s hard to imagine how any other club can compete with these two behemoths in the foreseeable future.

Italian Melodrama continues

The race for this year’s Scudetto has been my personal favourite battle across all of the elite European leagues. It has offered everything. With Juventus surrendering too much ground early doors, the two Milan giants have emerged as the ostensible favourites to conquer Italy.

But Napoli have refused to be shaken and remain the underdog story that everyone is rooting for. Spalletti’s side picked up a crucial three points from a tricky fixture at European hopefuls Atalanta.

Inter emerged victorious in the weekend’s marquee fixture, virtually ending Juventus’ backdoor title hopes with a dour 1-0 away victory. The Nerazzurri simply needed a result after a fairly rickety period in the season.

It heaps the pressure on Milan who host Bologna on Monday night. Can we also talk about Jose Mourinho for a minute? The enfant terrible of European football was at his irrepressible best following Roma’s victory against Sampdoria, castigating a reporter who had badmouthed him on Italian radio.

He accused the unsuspecting journo of cowardice, claiming “you s*** yourself in front of me”. Am I the only one who finds this strangely reassuring? He seems a bit more like his old self after a few seasons of detached indifference.

Real Madrid 12 points clear but some way behind?

I know that it’s mildly absurd to criticize a Real Madrid side who currently sit 12 points clear atop LaLiga (Barcelona do have one game in hand over their eternal rivals).

But I can’t help but astral project myself into this time next year. Karim Benzema scored two penalties this weekend as Real ground out an unconvincing 2-1 away win at Celta Vigo. Vinicius Junior had a stinker while Luka Modric failed to get a foothold in midfield.

What I’m saying is this: Real Madrid actually look like a side without a true identity. They are overly reliant on the herculean goal-scoring exploits of Karim Benzema. In stark contrast, Xavi’s revolution at Barcelona has a vivid, recognisable identity.

It is very much cut from the Guardiola mould (the tika-taka philosophy that redefined European football). Sure, they only beat Sevilla 1-0 this weekend. But they should have scored more in a fluid display of possession-based football.

Come this time next season, I would be very surprised if this dynamic Barcelona side hadn’t supplanted Real atop La Liga.

Bayern virtually assured the Bundesliga title as Dortmund humbled

Bayern Munich took one step closer to their 10th successive Bundesliga title, cruising to a 4-1 away win at would-be Champions League contenders SC Freiburg. Exhilarating, right?

But this weekend certainly emphasizes a key difference between Bayern and Spanish giants Real Madrid. Their top marksman Robert Lewandowski actually had an absolute dud of a performance.

He missed numerous chances and was yanked at around the hour mark. But the German giants have multiple goal-scoring avenues and the Polish hitman can have the odd shocker.

Serge Gnabry came off the bench and made an immediate impact with a stunning finish. Kingsley Colman was arguably their greatest threat in a thoroughly convincing display.

It was made all the sweeter as Dortmund’s faint title hopes were extinguished with a demoralising 4-1 home defeat to RB Leipzig. But let’s not ignore the elephant in the room from this week’s Bundesliga.

Hilariously, Bayern Munich briefly played with 12 players towards the end of their 4-1 mauling of SC Freiburg. These are the type of moments that I live for. The modern game- particularly since the advent of VAR- can sometimes feel a tad sterile.

It feels like some kind of victory for humanity to see such flagrant fallibility enter our game. Bravo!

A quick word on PSG

PSG went and destroyed Lorient 5-1 with a performance that almost feels like the punchline of a long, twisted prank. And the victims of said prank: PSG fans.

They must have thought that the acquisition of Leo Messi would be the key to European domination. But the much-vaunted trio of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar have failed to reach the dizzying heights expected.

For them to all score in a frankly inconsequential league game just feels like rubbing salt in the wounds. As I have said a million times; the Ligue 1 title is meaningless in the PSG realm.

Just look at the reactions of PSG players after they scored. Seriously, the expression on Mbappe’s face after he scored his second goal had all the joy of someone watching Schindler’s List for the first time.

5-1 victories should never feel this soulless. The entire PSG project just feels like a sham, a phony Ponzi scheme that has imploded.

Player of the Week- Diogo Jota

Kylian Mbappe should theoretically take this week’s plaudits after another immense showing for PSG. But it’s hard to celebrate a player who is starting to resemble the world’s best-paid hostage.

So, I have decided to award perhaps European football’s most underrated striker: Diogo Jota. His first-half header took his goal tally for this season to 20 (the first time he has reached this mark in his club career).

It’s taken some time for him to move out of the considerable shadow cast by a certain Egyptian king. But the nuggety Portuguese forward is finally starting to get his dues. You also can’t help but admire his relentless work ethic when he doesn’t have the ball.

There are shades of Luiz Suarez in his DNA and his goals could prove pivotal as Liverpool chase glory on multiple fronts.

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